When the fire broke out staff were allegedly told by managers and security guards that it was part of a regular drill and investigators say the nine-storey factory outside Dhaka had no emergency exits.

Prosecutor Anwarul Kabir said the couple handed themselves in to the magistrate's court in Dhaka and their applications for bail were rejected.

"The court rejected their bail prayers and sent them to jail," Mr Kabir said outside court where more than 100 people protested to to demand the couple's conviction.

Although warrants were issued on December 31, police have not arrested Hossain and Akter who have been living freely in Dhaka. It is unclear why they have now decided to give themselves up.

The pair are among 13 people including factory managers and security guards charged with arson, culpable homicide not amounting to murder, and death by negligence over the tragedy.

All face a maximum sentence of life in prison if convicted.

The November 2012 fire, the country's deadliest at a garment factory, highlighted appalling safety problems in the sector, a mainstay of the economy, where about four million workers toil for some of the lowest sector wages in the world.

Bangladesh suffered an even greater tragedy just months later in April when the Rana Plaza garment factory complex collapsed in Dhaka's outskirts, killing 1,135 people in one of the world's worst industrial disasters.

Owner accused of building unsafe clothing factory

Police have said it was possibly the first time an owner has been charged over a fire in the sector, where deadly accidents are common.

Manufacturers are hugely influential in Bangladesh, where some flout safety rules for the 4,500 garment factories, which account for up to 80 per cent of the impoverished country's exports.

Hossain, who since the tragedy has been barred from leaving the country, has been accused of breaching construction rules including building unsafe and narrow staircases in the nine-storey building.

Victims of the fire, mostly women who were paid as little as $37 a month, found themselves overcome by smoke or were forced to jump from windows on upper floors, police have said.

Managers and security guards were charged over their insistence workers return to their duties even though smoke was billowing from the ground floor where the fire started, according to a police investigation report.

The factory, in the Ashulia industrial district, supplied clothes to a variety of international brands including US giant Walmart, Dutch retailer C&A and ENYCE, a label owned by US rapper Sean "Diddy" Combs.

The industry is the world's second largest after China and factory owners - many of whom are also lawmakers and owners of banks and insurers - wield great influence in Bangladesh.